The LORD has been Gracious and Carried Our Burdens

Meet John Wayne… sometimes known as "The Duke."  Yes we call him the "Duke" because that was the actor's nickname.  But that's really the only part of his name that comes from the actor.  The name John comes from his dad's (Jason's) grandfather.   The name Wayne comes from me - :) 

I love what the two names mean.  John means "Yahweh is gracious" or "the Lord has been gracious."  Wayne has two meanings that are somewhat related - "wagon maker" or "burden bearer."  Put those two names together and this is what I get - "The Lord has been gracious and carried our burdens!"  

John's name both describes what our Lord is like - gracious - and how our Lord has shown that grace - by carrying our burdens.  Grace is "Gods undeserved love for us."   In other words,  God loves us even though we have given Him every reason not to.  He has shown that love by the gift of His Son Jesus who is our burden bearer.  As Isaiah foretold in chapter 53 - "Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him and afflicted.  But He was pierced for our transgressions, and He was crushed of our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him and by His wounds, we are healed."   

This morning as I sat here working on this blog, I listened as Beth (John's mom) was on the phone paying bills.  I heard her mumble, "Paying bills is a never ending task."   That's a truth we have all uttered.  Bills, which are part of life, can be such a burden.  Wouldn't you love it, if some else agreed to pay your bills for you?

John Wayne's name reminds us that our God has done just exactly that - He has paid our eternal bills for us.  The debt we owe because of sin is enormous -  a debt you and I could never hope to repay.  Because of that debt, which is our fault, God has every reason not to love us.  Yet, thank the Lord, our God is a "John Wayne" if you would… one who has loved us in spite of our sin (gracious) and because of His love has paid our debt of sin for us (carried our burdens.)    That's why in Confirmation classes one of the ways in which we teach people the meaning of grace is to teach it as an acronym - God's Riches At Christ's Expense.  God in His underserved love for us forgives all our sins, gives us His Holy Spirit, adopts us a His children, furnishes an eternal home for us in His house (God's Riches).  The cost for all those heavenly riches is the suffering and death of Jesus Christ (At Christ's Expense).

One more thought - the call to be missionaries is for you and me a call to be a "John Wayne" for those God brings across our paths.  We are called to show and tell about God's gracious love to the people we meet.  How?  By our words and our deeds.  I can't help but think of the story of the Good Samaritan in the parable.  Seeing the man on the road - robbed and beaten - the Samaritan sought to bind up his wounds, carried him to an inn and paid for his needs.  He showed God's gracious love to that man by seeking to help him bear his burdens.  That's our mission - to love people the way we have been loved - to help them with life's heavy loads (to be a "John Wayne") so that in our words and deeds they meet our gracious, burden bearing savior - Jesus!

Roaring Like a Lion... My God's Not Dead

"My God's not dead

He's surely alive

He's living on the inside

Roaring like a lion"

 

 

Those words are from the song by "Newsboys" that is the theme song from the movie, "God is Not Dead."  I know it took me a long time... the movie has been out for a while... but I sat last night and watched that movie with Ben, Anna and Linda.  I heard the words "roaring like a lion" and thought immediately of our grandson Dillan, Robert Ralph Braun.  The name "Dillan" after all means "like a lion" and "loyal one."  That's Dillan!  When he's going, he's roaring.  And loyalty?  You should have seen him watch with concern when his daddy's shoulder was hurting. You should see his joy when either his mom or dad comes home.  His name fits!

 

It's also a great description of our God and Savior.  Jesus is a real "Dillan."  He is after all "the lion of the tribe of Judah."  He is loyal - "For no matter how many promises God has made they are all 'yes' in Christ..." (2 Corinthians 2).

 

Let me tell you we have been finding out just how "loyal" and "faithful" our God is.  He has been "roaring like a lion."  We had planned on going to meet our Indonesian Grandson after Christmas but then God changed our plans.  I got worried.  How would we do this?  Yet our God is a "Dillan." He's loyal.  He provided a way to go to Indonesia early - between the end of our time at Lamb of God and the start of our work for the LCMS.    We have to raise 75% of our support for the work in Germany. How would we ever do that?  Yet already $ 43,000 has been given.  He has provided friend after friend to support us... congregation after congregation to welcome our message.  He is a "Dillan."  We would have to sell our home.  Again He was faithful - our house sold in 24 hours.  We hoped to go to Germany by mid-November. That's way too aggressive a plan.  Yet yesterday, with synod permission, we bought our tickets and will leave for Germany on November 12.

 

He has shown us again and again.  Our God is faithful and loyal.  He has been keeping His promises... blessing us with His grace.  He has truly been "roaring like a lion" in our lives. 

 

 

I don't know why any of us worry and fret over the future. Our Savior is "the lion of the tribe of Judah."  He is faithful and loyal.  He is truly a "Dillan."

 



 



One Who Rejoices

She is our first born grandchild.  She is beautiful, loving, full of energy, loves to read, loves to sing and dance and play, loves her mom and dad, loves her little brother, can't wait for her little sister to be born... She is Kyah Braun.  Her first name is derived from a Latin word (with some slight spelling changes).  Kyah means "one who rejoices."  I love this little girl and I love her name.  Since her birth 5 years ago, we have been rejoicing every day.

When I think of Kyah, I think of Paul's words in Philippians 4 - "Rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again - rejoice!"  At first when I hear that verse, I think, "That sounds wonderful - to go through life rejoicing.  But how is that possible?  Some days are tough.  Bad things happen in this world - loss of a job, betrayal of a friend, divorce, sickness, death... How can you rejoice always?"

But such thoughts confuse two different things - joy and happiness.  Happiness is related to circumstances.  Whether you are happy or not is often at the mercy of whether today is a good day or a bad day, whether good things or bad things are happening to you.  Who in the world can be happy that a loved one is sick, or a that you have lost your job? 

No those things don't make you happy, but they also can not or at least need not rob you of joy.  Joy or rejoicing is not at the mercy of circumstances. Rejoicing is the fruit of your relationship with God.  Rejoicing flows from the fact that no matter how circumstances change in life... no matter if they go well or poorly, your relationship with God is unchanging.  Your relationship with God is not altered by those circumstances.  Look at Philippians 4.  Right after telling us to rejoice, Paul points us to the source of that joy - "The Lord is near."  He never leaves.  That relationship is absolutely certain - established not by anything we have done, but entirely by what God has done for us in Christ,  As St. Paul wrote in Romans 8 - "If God is for us, who can be against us?  If God did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all how will He not also along with Him freely give us all things?  ...No in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am convinced that... nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  That certainty... that faith... that relationship established by God is why although you may not always be happy about your circumstance, in Christ you can always rejoice! 

So "Be a Kyah always!  I will say it again, Be a Kyah!" Be one who rejoices in Christ always!